Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Sports Radio hosts are getting crazier and crazier every week, and it seems like more and more are getting fired every week. Your latest victim is Jordan Smith, from the San Diego afternoon show on XX Sports Radio, and the reasoning behind it is hilarious. What he said wasn't hilarious, but rather the fact that he said it at all.

Jordan and his co-host were complaining about LaDanian Tomlinson being back on the team, after wishing for his departure for weeks. The host then brought up the fact that everyone always praises L.T. for his generosity each Thanksgiving, and that he was sick of hearing about it. Except instead of saying he was, "sick of hearing about it", he actually said, "Do me a favor, stick the turkeys up your ass! I don't care about the turkeys. I don't care about your charity." Via the SD Union Times....

Jordan Smith, half of the controversial afternoon show on XX Sports Radio, has been fired for making “some very unfortunate and hurtful comments utilizing unacceptable language,” the station said yesterday.

Hal Brown, vice president of programming at BCA Radio, which operates the all-sports station, made the announcement live on the radio. Brown also said he would be taking Smith's place on the “Bleacher Bums” show alongside Irwin Earl Milan, who worked with Smith, and a new addition, Ted Mendenhall, who has worked mostly behind the scenes at XX Sports.

In a rant critical of LaDainian Tomlinson last week, Smith used vulgar language to describe what the Chargers running back should do with the Thanksgiving turkeys he gives away each year to needy families. He used the same term to say what Tomlinson should do with his community service.

I'm actually surprised he was fired. I mean, I'm not saying it wasn't a ridiculous thing to say, but worse things have been said and those people still have their jobs. Good for you San Diego, stay classy!

From another San Diegan: I don't think Jordan was fired for just that remark. He was obnoxious, uninformed and constantly made brilliant observations like "the padres will be very good" and "the chargers suck." The turkey line was the excuse to fire him.

Radio has become so goddamn PC in recent years, that you can get in trouble for saying words that seem innocuous. The other day on the Mike O'Meara Show(formerly Don and Mike), they were talking to Jenna Jameson's former agent/publicist/whatever, and the subject of how the male stars "prepare" before scenes came up. Anyway, cutting to the chase, the word "fluffer" was not allowed to get on the air, and they were told that it could not be uttered in any way.

It's not that "radio has become so goddamn PC in recent years." Not at all. Radio has, in fact, gotten a lot more edgy than it used to be. Go back ten or twenty years; you think you would have heard anybody from the porn industry on the radio?

In fact, that's the problem. Sports-blab programmers want their hosts to be "dangerous," to stir up controversy -- but if a host goes just a little too far in some vaguely-defined way, he's suspended or fired. And there's no consistency at all.

Ok, we're all desensitized here but I think it's the specificity of the comment that warranted the firing. He could have said "LT can shove the turkeys" without losing his point, or he could have said "ass" in any other context, but saying "shove the turkeys up your ass" crosses any FCC standards line. And the part about the charity only kept his bosses from waiting until Friday to can him.

You Chargers fans baffle me. You have controversy with one of your stars (like we Bronco fans have had with Jay Cutler, I hope Jay grows a pair and comes back) and when you get him back, you have a tard talk show host making crass statements about him like that. Call me delusional but the Broncos are going to be on the verge of taking the AFC West.